January 2018 update! Fresh out of brain surgery on December 19, the “Discipline” EP is finally out! 2 of these songs (“Caveman” and “Therapy”) are favorites of mine as a songwriter that were previously released in lo-tech, lo-fi, self-produced versions, so I am especially excited for you to hear them with full professional production.
Together with the November release of another 3 song EP, “Gone Girl,” This completes the 6 song package that was planned for 2017. There are well over a dozen songs in the pipeline for release in the fall of 2018. Stay Tuned!
For this project, I played all acoustic guitar tracks, as well as bass guitar. I also made a cameo vocal appearance on “Therapy” and did all vocals for “Caveman”. Thad Taylor returns with drumming mayhem and a big, aggressive sound thanks to a different production approach by Brett at The Sound Shelter in Franklin, Tennessee. Studio guitar master Chris Tench added all electric guitar layers and solos. He is a true beast! Kirby McNutt belted the vocals on all 3 tunes on the “Gone Girl” EP, with Jon Statham lending his pipes to “Discipline” and “Therapy”. I am so excited to share these new songs with you, more true to my songwriting self: dry, aggressive, and hard hitting.

I am a songwriter and guitarist from Tigard, Oregon. All of my songs start with me sitting on that old leather couch with my Tacoma Chief in The Man Room, my backyard studio. Then the tech begins, with drums being cut first in Tennessee, followed by basic guitar tracks and bass guitar recorded in Vancouver, Washington. Then, electric guitar tracks and vocals were recorded back in Tennessee, which is where final mixing and mastering also took place.

Tell us how you develop your sound and style to make it different from other musicians.

Sometimes, it may very well sound the same as other musicians, but I write in a wide diversity of styles, including a female perspective and voice. All songs come from the same place, a twisted, cynical, dark heart laced with eternal hope and optimism. And, my Tacoma Chief. I make the song fit the story and not the other way around. Sometimes it sounds like other things, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes two of my songs side by side don’t sound like they came from the same songwriter. This element makes becoming commercially viable as an artist like playing the lottery. My best shot is to write songs for other artists in a variety of styles.

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Tell us your opinion on the way new artists are coming up and the frequent release of songs.

So much noise, as a consumer, it’s challenging/daunting to weed through all the crap to find anything worth hearing more than once. You know what I mean, I’m sure!

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Tell us your experience as a musician.

I’ve been playing guitar and writing songs since I was 16. I have both formal education and real world education, which has led me happily to be a middle school math teacher. I write and record songs for my students under the name Megamath, which we sing in class from time to time:

I have also released lo-fi home-produced recordings of my work, which, due to my lackluster vocal skills, remain mostly unheard. That’s OK, though. I consider them a resume of songwriting and they were not intended to go anywhere in their current state.

Bottom line: I can’t stop writing songs, they just come to me, and I welcome them. I have no expectations of notoriety.

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Tell us your opinion on streaming and digital download of songs.

If I were only in this to make money, I would be highly offended by this morphing of monetization in the music business. I just want to be heard. There are so many artists out there, falsely advertising their brilliance, it makes it tough to be heard. The consumer is becoming more selective, biased, and hesitant to give new things a chance, in my opinion.

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Tell us your goals and plans.

I plan on continuing to allow the songwriting disease to affect me; I have dozens of demos already in the can and am currently working on at least 10 new songs, 4-5 of which will be recorded and released near the end of 2018, through The Sound Shelter in Franklin, TN.

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Tell us five current artists that are your favourite.

Kississippi, Beach Slang, The Early November, Royal Blood, Moscow Radio.

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Tell us your best song up to date and share the link.

This is truly a biased opinion as the songwriter, but I know that “Caveman” is autobiographical and the most honest portrayal of me both personally and musically. Dry, edgy, not commercial sounding at all, likely not to land on the radio or any big playlists, but honest and organic.

I hope that some artists out there hear what I do and “get it,” and that we can start a Bernie Taupin/Elton Johnish relationship, where I provide lyrics and chord progressions and they provide the artistry and commercial appeal. That will be fun!

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Tell us what has changed in the music industry.

Everything. Labels. Streaming. Sales. Albums. Cassettes. CDs. Touring. Recording. $$$. It’s the same racket, but with more participants and a different platform.

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Tell us your opinion on television/radio stations playing the same songs from established artists and giving little chances to independent artists.

In an industry that’s all about the money, I believe that TV and radio stations could spend far less money and get far better music if they are willing to invest the time in finding it. It surely must be expensive to continue to pay X Renegades for commercials, for example, than it is to find the next thing coming.

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Tell us your opinion on using social media to promote music online.

At this point, I think it is all a bunch of white noise and the decision makers of the industry have ear fatigue. Looking back to when I would make the commitment and effort to buy an album, based only on my faith in the product based on past performances, we appear to be in a generation of music consumers that are too busy / lazy to click on a button to even give a song a listen. It is quite challenging. So, even though there is potentially more exposure to be heard, there is even more potential to be lost in the mix. There is so much self-promotion noise out there.

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Tell us what still motivates you to go on with your music career.

I write songs. They come to me, often while driving or performing manual labor around the house. They come to me, and I choose to act upon it. The alternative is to become even more mentally ill and/or find less positive and productive/creative outlets for my imagination.

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Tell us about you as a person.

I’m a nice guy. Believe me. After all, look who’s telling you. J

As a father of two daughters and a middle school teacher, I like to think of myself as calm, patient, deliberate and thoughtful. We all like to think good things of ourselves, right? Based on feedback/notes/gifts/cards from students and daughters over the years, I feel pretty accurate in this assessment of myself, but still humble and intentional about how I treat others. I am aware that I am a role model, and also that any little thing I do could be someone’s lasting memory of me if I were to die tomorrow. Speaking of which, I have brain cancer, and will be undergoing chemotherapy for one year, starting the first week of May.

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Tell us the process involved in making this song.

The first verse, both lyrics and chords came to me while driving to the landfill one summer day.

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State your artist’s name and elaborate on it.

Dave Whitcher Saga. The artist name speaks to my musical journey. It’s a long one, and no one knows of it but me. It will continue, change, and evolve, while remaining rooted in telling stories. Saga.

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State the title of the song and the meaning.

“I Don’t Care”

The meaning of the title is ironic and may sound negative or rebellious, but is really a love song. At the core of the intent, I am making it clear that I only care about my wife and my family. Everything else out there could go away, and I flat out would not care.

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State the title of the album and the reason for choosing the title.

Well, it’s only a 3 song EP, so I chose “Gone Girl” as the title, as I think that song is the most unique of the three, and it shares a title with a popular book and movie, so was hoping people may discover it accidentally through searches! HA! Maybe next time.